September 2010 Visa Bulletin – Last Bulletin for the Fiscal Year: EB-2 and EB-3 Forward Movement

The September 2010 Visa Bulletin was just released by the State Department.  The last visa bulletin for the fiscal year 2010 brings some forward movement across all categories, with the exception of EB-3 India.

Summary of the September 2010 Visa Bulletin – Employment-Based (EB)

Below is a summary of the September 2010 Visa Bulletin with respect to employment-based petitions:

• EB-1 remains current across the board.
• EB-2 ROW (Rest of World) remains current, EB-2 China moves forward by slightly over two (2) months to May 8, 2006, EB-2 India also moves forward by two (2) months from March 1, 2006 to May 8, 2006.
• EB-3 ROW moves forward by six and a half (6.5) months to December 15, 2004, EB-3 China  moves forward by one (1) month to October 22, 2003, while EB-3 India  remains unchanged.  EB-3 Mexico remains unavailable.
• The “other worker” category moves forward by a few months, to March 22, 2003 for ROW and China remains unchanged at January 1, 2002 for India.

Substantial Forward Movement Continues

The notable forward movement in EB-2 and some EB-3 categories continues in this month’s visa bulletin as well.   This significant movement is due to the fact that there are some visa numbers available from other countries have not been reached yet and such countries’ per-country limit has not been reached.  As a result, as we are getting close to the end of the fiscal year, and after taking the worldwide demand into account, the State Department is attempting to allocate all of the available visa numbers which, if not allocated, may remain unused during the fiscal year.

Forward Movement Is Temporary

We wish to reiterate that the substantial forward movement  over the past three visa bulletins does not indicate a trend; instead, the last three visa bulletins’ forward movement was to ensure that no available visa numbers remain unused due to poor allocation of the unused numbers.  We expect that there be some retrogression over the next 1-3 months.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or if we can help you prepare and file your I-485 adjustment application, should your priority date become current.